A Nagoya University team has overcome one of the key limitations of X-ray technology by making the mirror using only a single-crystal piezoelectric thin wafer instead of the usual two-part structure. Using this technique, they changed X-ray beam size by more than 3,400 times. This improved dynamic range massively improves both imaging and analysis, improving the efficiency of advanced techniques and massively enhancing workflows.

A group of researchers have observed images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The images were like a time machine, allowing the researchers to understand how these galaxies built their disks over history and compare this to how our own Milky Way formed. 

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that the strength of synaptic connections in the cerebral cortex varies during sleep, influenced by synaptic learning rules and neuronal activity. Using simulations, they identified conditions under which “sleep learning” may occur. These findings could deepen our understanding of the relationship between sleep and learning/memory and help elucidate the mechanisms of brain disorders linked to sleep disturbances.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have developed an AI model that can detect the presence of fatty liver disease from chest X-ray images. 

To make advances in using microbes to sustainably produce materials, it is necessary to find new molecular tools, or “enzymes” — but this is labor intensive. A Kobe University team now developed a technique that can classify thousands of candidates and a workflow that can evaluate representatives overnight, in what may become a fundamental technology for biomanufacturing.

A new fossil discovery technique reveals that squids originated and rapidly became abundant, diverse, and dominant in the oceans 100 million years ago, reshaping our understanding of ancient marine ecosystems.

A research team led by Associate Professor Ayako Okado-Matsumoto from the Toho University’s Department of Biology, has made an important breakthrough in understanding Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), in collaboration with Professor Ryuji Sakakibara from the Department of Neurology, Sakura Medical Center, and Professors Hitoshi Nukada and Soroku Yagihashi from the Department of Exploratory Medicine on Nature, Life and Man, Toho University The teamdiscovered something remarkable about a specific protein in patient’s blood. The researchers found that people with DLB have significantly lower amount of a protein called α-synuclein (alpha synuclein) in their red blood cells compared to healthy people and those with other brain diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. α-synuclein is a protein that becomes problematic when it builds up abnormally in brain cells, contributing to various neurological conditions.